


One of Those Days

by bracus09



Series: SEAL Team Week 2020 [2]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Clay Spenser Whump, Gen, porcupine - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bracus09/pseuds/bracus09
Summary: When something can go wrong, it will happen to Clay Spenser
Series: SEAL Team Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599607
Comments: 27
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2: Clay Spenser or Trapped.
> 
> Guess what I chose?
> 
> Enjoy!

The men of Bravo team were lounging around in the back of the C-17 on a late evening flight to Africa. No one grabbed dinner before they had to board the plane, so MREs were passed around and eaten before the men found something to do to entertain themselves. The lights in the front of the plane were dimmed for those that were trying to sleep while the lights in the back of the plane remained on for those working on the brief.

Sonny, Trent and Brock were playing poker in the back of the plane, using Cerb’s dog treats as betting chips. Ray was reading a mystery novel that was recommended to him by Naima, and Jason was studying the brief details because something wasn’t sitting right. Clay was lounging in his hammock in the front of the plane with Cerb lounging on top of him. 

The young SEAL looked to be asleep, but he could have just been resting his eyes, no one knew for sure. His forearms still held the bandages from where he decided tripping down a hill was a good idea during drills and scraped his forearms up.

Clay had every right to be asleep, if indeed he was. Jason had considered sending him home, calling him off this op, but the truth of the matter was that the rest of the team needed him right where he was. Jason himself needed to be able to look over and see that he was alright, and he’d watched everyone on the team stand just a few feet away on several occasions watching him and taking in everything there was about him to assess his health status without actually touching him. They all needed to see him and know that he was right where they could get to him quickly if he showed any signs of trouble.

Jason even found himself counting the bottles of water his youngest team member had consumed to rehydrate himself; still he was concerned by the lack of a trip to the head. Today had been one of those “if it could go wrong, it went wrong with Clay” days.

***

The first incident happened this morning when the team was in the gym working out before the scheduled drills for the day. Clay had been using the extra heavy green band to help stretch out his hamstrings before he hit the weights when it snapped and hit him in the stomach. This caused him to cry out in surprise and pain and instantly had all the guys looking at him. He grabbed his stomach and rolled over on his side, sending Trent running from the opposite side of the gym. After looking at the welt on his stomach, Trent determined that he would live. Once they were sure that Clay wasn’t injured, the jokes started, with Sonny mentioning that he wouldn’t have had an issue with his abs of steel.

Before the team got finished in the weight room, the second incident occurred. Sonny and Clay were spotting each other on the bench press as their last exercise before getting changed for the drills. Clay had just finished his last set of eight, Sonny helping him rack the weighted bar before turning to answer Ray’s question. His back had been turned for less than a second before there was a shriek of metal and Clay’s surprised yelp. The metal of the rack that housed the bar had a microscopic crack and finally gave way. Clay managed to roll so the bar didn’t hit his face, but it did glance off his left shoulder before clattering to the ground. 

Pivoting quickly, Sonny hauled the bar off of Clay’s chest as his brothers glanced over at the pair, half expecting Sonny to be pranking their youngest member. Instead they found Clay curled on the bench, again. Sighing in exasperation, Trent quickly checked out Clay’s shoulder, determined it was going to bruise and then teased him about being lucky it didn’t hit him in the face. The team came to the consensus that it wouldn’t improve Princess’ look.

Clay quickly exited the gym, feeling he had a curse of him. He would have put Sonny up to some pranks, but Sonny wouldn’t dare damage gym equipment or put him in a situation that could cause true harm. After getting changed, the team went to the hangar to work on some breaching scenarios. The first few breaches were relatively simple and routine. Clearing the buildings with no problems. Clay was paired with Ray for the next breach, when the third incident of the day occurred. The breach charge on the door went off while Ray and Clay were on either side the hallways, but either the Green Team member who packed the charge made a mistake or it was faulty, because instead of blowing the door in, it blew the top of the door frame up into the air. Both Ray and Clay ducked, but Clay was hit by a chunk of the door frame hard enough to knock his NODs off his helmet. Ray was obviously the first to check out Clay, but Trent and Jason were quick to make sure both of their teammates were okay. Sonny went chasing down who made the charge and was determined to make sure they knew how to make a charge correctly.

Jason called a halt to the breaching scenarios and everyone filed into the mess hall to grab some “nutritious” lunch. At this point, Clay was wary of everything because he felt like he had a target on his back. After an incident free lunch, Jason herded his team out to the obstacle course for some cat and mouse simulations of finding and detailing targets on a hillside. It was a very hot, very humid day in Virginia, so the guys were not looking forward to the drills. The first four scenarios took about three hours to complete, with each team guy taking a turn being the mouse. When it was Clay’s turn to be mouse, Ray and Jason looked at each other, second guessing if they should allow accident-prone Clay to even attempt it. They decided to let him go, and he took off up the hillside to fortify a position. The simulation was getting close to an hour when Clay stepped on what he thought was a rock to slow his descent down the hillside away from the guys but was a hardened pile of dirt. It crumpled under his weight and he went head over heels, scraping his exposed forearms down several feet before coming to a stop.

Clay just laid there for several moments, trusting that his brothers would come get him. Trent, Jason and Sonny helped him up and walked him down to the base of the hillside so Trent could take a better look at the dirt covered man. He didn’t look any worse for wear aside from his forearms, not life threatening. Cleaning out the scrapes and covering them in copious amounts of bandages, Trent caught a hunch. The kid was red faced but wasn’t sweating like the rest of them. 

‘Probably just dehydrated,’ he thought to himself. When Trent taped the last of the bandaged. 

Jason decided to call it day, at this rate someone was going to end up seriously injured and his bet was on the kid. 

After the last scenario, and while Clay was getting a shower, Jason had pulled the team together and given the order to see to it that Clay was not left alone for the rest of the day.

“I’m not saying that he’s doing anything wrong or that I put any stock in those horoscopes that Emma reads or anything like that, but one thing is clear, some kind of forces somewhere seem to have it in for the Kid this shift.” Jason explained.

“I’m afraid I have to agree with you there, Bossman. Poster Boy looks like he has been dragged through the cow pasture, and we look like we stood around and smelled the roses all day. We all did our fair share today, but it was nothing compared to what Goldilocks has been through. I almost feel like I’ve been gold bricking today,” Sonny responded, trying not to show his concern but it was clear to the rest of his brothers.

“I know what you mean,” Ray acknowledged his brother’s feelings. “But I assure you, no one here has been shirking any duties. It just hasn’t been Clay’s day.”

“You can say that again.” Brock muttered where he sat in his cage, scratching Cerb’s ears.

***

Blackburn made eye contact with Jason and nodded his head towards the lit area of the plane. He had several crates together to make a tabletop of sorts and had maps, laptops, and equipment spread out. It looks like they were finally ready to brief them on the op that they were flying to, because when Lisa told them to hit the tarmac in 30 minutes, all the guys had time to do was grab their go-bags, their kits and send quick messages to family saying they had been spun up, and then they had to book it to the tarmac.

They received no information on where they were going or what the mission was. All anyone knew was they were needed on the plane almost immediately, so they got on and took off.

Jason checked the time on his watch and walked over to Clay. Placing a fatherly hand on Clay’s shoulder and giving it a little shake, Jason told Clay that he needed to get ready for debrief and continued to watch him before he moved on to Ray and the poker players. It took Clay a minute to get up but when he did, he was moving well and made his way to the restroom on the airplane. Jason followed behind a couple of minutes later and was glad to hear the toilet flush.

“All those fluids you’ve been drinking finally going through you?” Jason questioned and Clay realized even more how much his team leader had been watching him.

“Yeah,” Clay answered. The team had been alternating on handing him water or Gatorade to drink the second he finished the previous ever since he took that tumble down the hill. Clay knew he needed it but there was a point where he felt that if he took one more sip, he was going to throw up. As much as he appreciated his team’s concern, and Jason’s position of responsibility for him, Clay wasn’t about to let him, or Trent know that his urine was still dark enough to indicate he needed to keep up on his hydration activities.

Everyone gathered around the makeshift tabletop to get debriefed on the upcoming mission.

“What have we got?” Jason asked, needing to know what he needed to prepare his team.

“We are on our way to Angola, Africa,” Blackburn started as he pointed to a map of Africa and the country that they are flying to.

The men of Bravo all gathered a little closer so everyone would be able to see.

“We have a missing ten-year-old boy. He is the son of the Ambassador in that country. The thing of it is, we’re finding out that he has been missing for close to two days now. It was Foreign Service National personnel that alerted the Ambassador to his son’s disappearance.” Blackburn explained.

“Hold it,” Ray spoke up. “The Ambassador didn’t know that his kid was missing?” Ray couldn’t believe that the man didn’t know that his own child was missing.

“The Ambassador and his wife wanted to take care of it themselves with embassy personnel. Unfortunately, there have been threats on the Ambassador and his family’s lives so we are being called in to help determine if this is politically motivated or something else.” Blackburn laid out the facts.

“What do we know about these threats?” Jason asked.

Lisa pulled up some pictures and turned a laptop around. “The most Northern Angolan providence is Cabinda. It is unusual in being that it is separated from the rest of the country by a 37 mile stretch of land. The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congo Republic split it from Angola. Exports include hardwoods, coffee, cocoa, crude rubber and palm oil.”

All the guys were nodding along with Lisa as she changed the photos to different pictures. “You will probably know it by its nickname, “the Kuwait of Africa”, as Cabinda’s petroleum production accounts for more than half of Angola’s output.”

“And there’s the problem. Greed.” Sonny stated, chewing on his toothpick.

“Almost right,” Lisa said and continued with the briefing. “There are many separatist guerrilla factions opposing the Government of Angola. The main one is the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda – Armed Forces of Cabinda.”

“Now that is a mouthful.” Jason said with his eyebrows raised.

“Hey, Bam Bam. Try to say that five times fast.” Sonny slapped Clay on the shoulder.

Clay just rolled his eyes and continued looking at the debrief in his hands.

Without even acknowledging Sonny, Lisa wrapped up her portion. “One of the benefits to us is that one of the characteristics of the Cabindan independence movement is its constant fragmentation, into smaller and smaller factions.”

Blackburn took over, “While these factions are small, it would not be unheard of for them to take an Ambassador’s kid as a political move and transport them from the capital of Luanda to Cabinda. It is about a 12-hour drive, a 7-hour boat ride or an hour flight, pending on their resources.”

“How long has the kid been missing?” Jason asked, trying to do the math and trying to ignore the statistics involved with missing children.

“When we arrive in the next two hours and then transport to the embassy, it will just be not quite three days. We will have the help of the local authorities and embassy security. No matter what, we want to find that boy.” Blackburn stated with conviction, knowing his team will do everything in their power to try to find the Ambassador’s kid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the truth comes out!

After the C-17 had landed and everyone grabbed their kits, they all piled into three vehicles to be transported to the embassy. They arrived with little fanfare, placed everything in their assigned rooms, and headed to the central room that was the headquarters for the search and rescue.

Jason and Ray were with Lisa and Blackburn getting updates on any information about the kid, hoping one of the factions had made contact, so they had a direction to go, but no luck.

They were never going to get that lucky on an OP.

As they were standing around, Clay noticed two other boys were whispering with each other. He briefly caught Sonny’s eye and nodded that he was going to talk to the two boys. Sonny gave a small nod but kept his eye on the Boy Wonder as he made his way over.

The two boys were about the same age as the Ambassador’s son. One had dark brown hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. The other was of African American decent, with hair just long enough you could see he was trying to start an afro. They sat out of the way on a sofa so that they could still see what was going on but were out of the way. What caught Clay’s attention was that both boys kept nudging each other and talking in whispers. It wasn’t the scared that their friend was missing type of fidgeting, but like nervous, we are about to get in trouble fidgeting.

Carefully approaching the boys, Clay squatted down in front of the two boys. “Hi. My name is Clay. What are your names?”

The afro kid spoke up for both, “I’m Jatavious and he’s Jaylen.” Jaylen just nodded in agreement with what Jatavious said.

“Must be scary to think your friend might have been kidnapped,” Clay gently stated.

Jatavious cut his eyes at Jaylen and then looked at his lap. Jaylen briefly made eye-contact with Clay and then he too looked at his lap.

‘Jackpot,’ thought Clay. This has nothing to do with a political kidnapping, but something closer to home.

“You don’t think he has been taken?” Clay questioned, looking both kids in the eyes when they glanced up.

Jaylen shook his head, “No.” 

Jatavious nudged Jaylen in his ribs with an elbow and whispered furiously, “Don’t say nothing. We’ll get in trouble.”

Clay was just close enough to hear and continued to coax answers out of the two boys. “No one will get in trouble. We just want him to come home safe.”  
This caused both boys to look at each other, then back at Clay. Jaylen shrugged a shoulder and then nodded his head. Jatavious took a deep breath and started to explain, “His dad gets angry often and when he gets angry, he sometimes hits him.”

Clay sucked in a breath so keep his temper in check. To think that the Ambassador was a child abuser, this will have far reaching consequences.

“Do you know where he went?” Clay continued in an even tone.

Both boys nodded their heads, but a quick glance at the Ambassador told him that they were afraid that the Ambassador would turn on them.

Clay quickly put two and two together and started devising a plan. He pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text to Lisa to get the Ambassador out of the room.

Lisa felt her phone go off, pulled it out and read the text from Clay quickly. She raised her eyebrow in question, and he nodded his head in the direction of the boys. She just nodded her head once, and then he could see her making an excuse to get the Ambassador and his wife out of the room quickly.

Once she had escorted the two out of the room, Clay motioned for the boys to follow him up to the table where the rest of the team was standing around maps and laptops.

As he approached, Jason and Blackburn took notice first and soon the rest of the guys followed their gaze. The boys tried ducking behind Clay, but he put his hands gently on their shoulders and maneuvered them in front of him and kept his hands on their shoulders to show support for them.

“So, talking to Jatavious and Jaylen here and apparently the Ambassador tends to knock his son around a little. They think they know where the boy is hiding out, somewhere near here, to get away from his parents.” Clay said steadily so he didn’t freak the boys out.

Clay could see the look of comprehension spread through the team and the support staff about this new revelation. Blackburn crouched down in front of them to ask, “You know for sure that he wasn’t taken?”

Both boys looked wide-eyed at the Lt. Commander, but both nodded their heads. Everyone in the room instantly felt the tension disperse because they were no longer looking at a hostage situation, but the tension returned to the room when they realized the kid ran away to get away from his abuser.

Unfortunately, Lisa couldn’t distract the Ambassador and his wife long enough and he was soon storming back into the room. The Ambassador saw the two boys standing next to Clay and instantly knew what was happening.

“What are you two doing here? Get out of here.” The Ambassador said angrily and pointed towards the doors. 

Both boys tried to hide behind Clay, and Sonny stepped forward to be a bigger barrier between the boys and the Ambassador.

Blackburn, being the diplomat that he is, stepped forward to get the attention on to him. “Mr. Ambassador, sir. We believe that Ryan wasn’t kidnapped for political reasons but ran away to avoid you. Is there any truth to this?”

The Ambassador’s face went red with fury and a vein on his forehead was starting to pop. “Don’t believe anything those two say. They are responsible for all this.” He started screaming. “I told him to stay away from them,” The Ambassador continued to yell.

Jason and Ray grabbed the Ambassador and pulled him to the other side of the room, and the boys continued to hold tight to Clay and Sonny’s sides.

“Can you show us where you think your friend is hiding?” Clay asked, crouching down to their level and distracting them from the Ambassador that was shouting across the room from them.

The boys looked across the room at the Ambassador that was still raging, and both boys shook their heads and tried to scoot closer to Sonny that was still standing next to them.

Lisa saw the issue and thought maybe a little bit of a woman’s touch might be helpful. “I wonder if you would allow me to have a private word with them.”

Blackburn looked at Lisa and then nodded in approval. She brought both boys back to the sofa they were sitting on previously, with Lisa between them and quietly whispered. She glanced up with a pointed glare at the guys and all of them took the point and turned around, so the boys didn’t have any prying eyes on them.

By now, it has been a couple of hours since they had landed and darkness had long fallen and concern for the missing boy, who they now knew was going into his third night away from home, increased. There was the added suspicion that he was hurt which was why they felt an increased need to find the boy.

It was only a few minutes later when Lisa returned to the group. “They are willing to show us where they think their friend is hiding but they don’t want to show the Ambassador. The boys are afraid that if they show us his hiding spot, that he’ll no longer have a place to escape from his old man. We have to keep the Ambassador and his wife here while we go looking for the kid. According to the boys we can only get there on foot, it’s in a pretty rough part of the woods.”

Blackburn crossed his arms, “I think we have more than enough grounds to hold him here while the search party goes after him.

“Alright guys.” Jason had heard enough to know he needed to make some commands to get this mission going. “Trent, can you put supplies in a stretcher? Sonny, make sure you grab some high-powered flashlights?”

Soon Bravo Team was in position and ready to walk the half mile to where the boys were leading the team. The team only took their side arms, as the chance of coming across armed conflict was negligible. They didn’t pull up ISR for the same reason, and only Jason and Ray took radios with them.

It was a short hike by everyone’s standards, down a gully washed out by a flash flood a few years previous. The area looked like it had been destined for a housing subdivision of some sort before the flash flood, but afterwards it was deemed unsafe for such use. The boys stopped at a concrete pipe that was sticking out of the side of the wash. At first glance, the team knew it was what was left of a sewer system, but they were all comforted by the knowledge that this one had never been used.

“There’s a cement cave like thing at the end of the pipe. It’s too small for the Ambassador to get in after him so he’s safe there. I know he has a sleeping bag and took some food from the kitchen to store it in there.” Jatavious said, pointing to the opening.

Jaylen then knelt down and yelled into the pipe, “Ryan! I brought the good guys! We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Jason then knelt next to the boy after giving him a nod of approval. “We just need to see you and see if you’re hurt, Ryan. No one out here is going to hurt you. Can you come out?”

There was a sound that came back through the pipe, but no one could understand what was being said.  
“Sounds like he’s in there alright,” Jason reported to those gathered behind him. “I didn’t understand what he was trying to say but it doesn’t sound like he’s coming out.”

“From what the boys said, I’m betting there’s a manhole cover up on top of here, but it looks like it might be covered by overgrowth.” Ray said, thinking of the possibilities. 

Sonny cackled, “Low man on the totem pole gets to climb in through the pipe.”

Clay just rolled his eyes, took off his jacket to reduce some bulk and make the crawl through the pipe easier. He also took off his firearm and handed it to Brock. In his t-shirt, pants and tactical boots, Clay looked in with a flashlight to evaluate the area before crawling in. “It only looks to be about ten to twelve feet back there. I can make it.” With that Clay got down on his belly and began to scoot into the pipe holding a high-powered flashlight ahead of him. 

Clay had just made it in as far as his knees when Jason started giving other orders out. “Alright, you four go up top here and see if you can find that manhole cover. Clay says it’s about ten feet back and it just might be the best way to get the boy out of there.” 

The four men took a few minutes with flashlights to determine the best way out of the wash before they took the two shovels, they brought with them and headed out to follow orders. Ray made sure that the radio was clipped on his waist band and then they had disappeared above the gully.

Jason remained crouched near the open end of the pipe, shining a flashlight so that he could not only watch Clay’s progress but hopefully light his way since things were tight enough that he had to push his flashlight ahead of him and then pull himself up to it.

From Jason’s vantage point, it looked like Clay had just reached the larger chamber when he heard “ARGGGHH” echoing back down the pipe and Clay was seen ducking back into the pipe.

“Kid. Clay! Are you alright?” Jason questioned and then listened for an answer. The only response was what sounded like heavy breathing. “Spenser, are you alright in there?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The jealous boyfriend.

Jason was just ducking his head inside the pipe, trying to determine if he would fit and could go after his man when Clay started talking to him.

“Boss, the kid’s in there. He’s perched on a ladder leading to the manhole cover that’s on the right of the chamber. It’s going to be the best way to get him out of here. Trent better be up top, he looks like he’s hurt.”

Jason pulled back and using the radio relayed the information to the group on the top of the hill. He then turned his attention back to Clay who wasn’t moving as fast as he thought he should, nor did he understand why Clay just didn’t go to the boy’s aid through the tunnel.

Shining the flashlight in on Clay, it became evident that he was having trouble moving, which Jason equated to him being hurt. Jason managed to crawl into the end of the pipe enough to grab hold of Clay’s boots and started to pull him toward the opening.

“No! Boss, don’t. Please stop!” Clay called back but Jason kept a steady pull on the boots in his hands.

***

The last thing Clay needed was to be drug out by his heels at this point, but it was apparent that his team leader just wasn’t listening. He did the only thing he could and kicked his feet to dislodge Jason’s hands. His team leader didn’t sound to happy when his hands hit the sides of the cement pipe and forced him to let go.

“Let me do it myself, Jason, or you’ll do more damage,” Clay called back and then carefully tried to move backwards. Within seconds, it became obvious that any attempt to move one shoulder was just going to make things worse and there was no real way for him to crawl backwards without using the shoulder at least some. As he paused to think his situation through and work the problem, he felt his team leader’s hands on his boots once again.

“Just a second, let me roll over on to my side.” Clay instructed and even though there was no pulling on his feet, his team leader didn’t let go of them either. Slowly and carefully Clay collapsed his left arm and allowed himself to roll onto his left side then carefully holding his right arm and hugging the wall of the pipe at his back, Clay called out. “Okay, pull me out of here.”

Jason reached in a little farther and took a hold of Clay’s calves and began to pull. With the help of two of the embassy’s security staff that came with the team, each pulling on one of his legs, Jason was soon out of the pipe and Clay’s legs were in clear view. One more good pull and he was able to take a hold of Clay’s belt and pull from there. When Clay was completely extricated from the pipe, he was holding his right arm with his left and when Jason reached for his shoulder to help him sit up a little, Clay let out a panicked cry, “Don’t touch!”

The embassy security staff shone their flashlights in Clay’s direction causing him to hold his left hand up to shield his eyes as Bravo One picked up his own flashlight that was on the ground at Clay’s side and shone it on his right shoulder.

Protruding through his t-shirt were spikes, or were they spears? Several of them, more than he could count in a single glance, about half as big around as a pencil and looking to be five to six inches long.

“What did that kid hit you with?” Jason questioned as he was stopped once again from touching them as Clay grabbed his hand and held it away.

“It wasn’t the kid,” Clay answered as he once again took hold of his right elbow with his left hand, and using his stomach muscles, sat up. “That opening to what appears to be a large septic tank, unused I might add, is guarded by a bunch of porcupines.”

“Porcupines?” Jason echoed as he shone his flashlight back at Clay’s shoulder for a better look. He had never seen porcupine quills anywhere other than in pictures but what he was seeing did indeed look like what had been in the pictures, just a different color.

“Bravo One, this is Bravo two,” Ray’s voice was heard over the radio at Jason’s side. “We’ve got the kid. He’s been pretty worked over. Be advised, we can see three large rodent type animals in the bottom of the tank. It doesn’t smell like skunks from where I’m at, but I can see black and white down there.”

“According to Bravo 6, they’re porcupines. And he’s got a shoulder full of quills to prove it,” Jason enlightened his second in command. “Ask Bravo Four what I need to do for him.”

“You just need to take a hold of them with a pair of pliers and pull them out,” Clay instructed.

“Bravo One,” Trent’s voice was heard over the handheld radio, “Just get a set of vitals on him, have him sit there and we’ll be there in just a minute.”

“Copy that,” Jason responded into the radio before turning to Trent’s kit that was still in the stretcher, they’d brought with them. He pulled out a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. “We don’t happen to have a pair of pliers with us at the moment, so what do you say we follow Trent’s suggestion?”

Clay just nodded his head in agreement and one of the embassy security guys carefully knelt behind him and allowed Clay to rest back against his chest as Jason went to work to gather a set of vitals.

By the time Jason had finished gathering Clay’s vitals, the rest of the team were walking down to join them. Trent had the boy in question on his back. The boy was holding around Trent’s neck with Trent holding on to the boy’s legs. Sonny and Brock each had a hold of one of Trent’s arms to steady him as he slid down the side of the wash. Sonny was doing what he does best and telling some exaggerated tale to distract the boy as they walked.

As Brock and Sonny helped the boy slide off Trent’s back, Jason walked over to Trent and handed him both the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, along with the small notebook that Trent kept in his kit to record vitals. Trent gave it a quick glance to look at Clay’s vitals and then looked over at the youngest member of Bravo.

“These look good, but you brother… This just hasn’t been your day has it?” Trent commented with more of a smirk and a shake of his head. Jason was relieved by Trent’s apparent lack of immediate concern. 

“Can you have Davis set-up a relay with the nearest hospital?” Trent asked as he very carefully took the young boy in his charge by the arms and led him toward the stretcher to help him lay down on his stomach.

Brock and Ray quickly removed all the equipment from the stretcher while Sonny opened a blanket and set it down before Trent placed the boy on the stretcher. Trent then opened another one but left it folded for the boy to use as a pillow. From several feet away, Jason could see the bloody stripes on the back of the boy’s t-shirt and arms, as well as the bruising on the face. It was apparent in the way he walked that his legs must have taken a beating as well.

“Havoc, this is Bravo One. Can you set up a relay with a local hospital?” Jason started filling his assignment as Trent carefully cut the shirt away from the boy’s back to get a better look. With Trent squatting next to the boy, Jason couldn’t see how much damage was done firsthand, but by the looks on his team’s and the accompanying security guard’s faces, it told him more than he wanted to know.

“Bravo One, we are setting up the relay with the hospital as we speak.” Blackburn’s voice came through the radio. “Start relaying information when ready.”

“Havoc, we have two injured. We have the boy and Trent is working on him right now, but he clearly an assault victim. Bravo 6 is the second injury. He has encountered a porcupine. He has several of the quills embedded in his right shoulder.” Jason relayed over the radio with a smirk.

“Bravo One, would you repeat your last?” Came the puzzled and totally disbelieving tone of Blackburn’s voice over the radio. This time Clay smirked with a sense of humor at hand.

“I repeat, Havoc, he has been attacked by a porcupine and has several quills embedded in and around his right shoulder.” Jason then proceeded to give the vitals he recorded before adding the vitals Trent was calling out on his patient. Trent then took the handset and while giving Clay a sympathetic glance, he proceeded to detail the boy’s injuries while making a point to let Blackburn know that he was in a lot of pain.

Through the relay, Lisa was able to confirm with the hospital that the boy was in protective custody and they wanted Trent to start an IV with some pain medications. “Bravo One, stand by on your porcupine patient. The physician at the local hospital is going to have to get a consult on that one. Just give them a minute.”

While Trent started an IV on the boy promising that he’d feel a lot better soon, Brock took the security guards position behind Clay.

“How many of those things attacked you?” Brock questioned as he tried to count the number of quills in Clay’s shoulder. He reached twenty-six and was still counting, and that was just the big ones. There appeared to be several smaller ones about the size of cactus needles around the area where the bigger ones were embedded in his upper chest and shoulder area.

“Just one, Brock,” Clay groaned. “I suspect that one of the three was female and the other two were competing for her affections.”

“So, are you trying to tell us you were attacked by a jealous boyfriend?” Sonny popped off in his obvious attempt to hide his concern.

“Something like that,” Clay agreed, chuckling at his brother’s explanation of events at hand.

“So, how far away were you when that thing threw his spines at you?” Ray questioned. There was an air of humor at the situation and Clay didn’t seem worried or even in real serious pain, at least if no one looked like they might touch one of the objects in his shoulder and chest.

“They don’t throw their quills, Ray. That’s a myth.” Clay spoke, welcoming the distraction. “I heard something moving when I reached the end of the pipe, but I just thought it was the kid. I mean I haven’t seen a porcupine in the wild since I was a kid and that was up in Liberia. I think the ones in Liberia were a different species than these. The coloring wasn’t right. When I stuck my head into the chamber area, I startled one of them and he slapped my shoulder with his tail. The quills are designed to let go from their body as soon as they hit something. Unfortunately for me, they have a little barb on the other end, and they won’t come out of my shoulder as easily.”

“Thank you for the information Jeff Corwin.” Sonny had to dig at Clay.

Ray slapped Sonny’s shoulder. “Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“You mean they’re like a fishhook? How do you get them out again? I mean, with a fish hook the best things to do is to push it through and cut the barb off.” Brock questioned what lay ahead of his brother who was resting against his chest. He didn’t like the mental image that was forming in his mind. A fishhook was curved and pushing it back through the skin was no real hardship, but these quill things were straight and pushing them meant they would go straight. Now, Brock wasn’t the medic like Trent but he knew more than enough anatomy to know that below the little spears embedded in Clay’s shoulder and upper chest lay all the bones that make up his shoulder, his lungs and as Brock looked hard, he was sure one of those pokey things was in the vicinity of Clay’s heart.

“Nah, Brock. They’re not as bad as a fishhook. It will smart a little, but you just pull them out. The trick is to pull straight.” Clay continued to talk causally. It was very clear to all those around him that he wasn’t looking forward to the ordeal ahead of him, but he wasn’t worried about it either.

“You sound like you’ve dealt with these things before,” one of the security guards asked.

“Back when I was a kid in Liberia, the locals used to treat a dead one on the roadside as a real treasure. They would put on gloves and use a pair of pliers to pull out all the quills they could get, and they made some neat stuff with them. I’ve also helped pull quite a few quills out of the nose of several dogs as a teenager, and even a few out of the leg of a farmer’s cattle once. Some people eat them and say they taste quite good, but my grandparents didn’t care for the taste, so I’ve never tasted it.” Clay said with a shrug of his quill-free shoulder.

***

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Dr. Arvelo was on call in the Emergency Room and he was looking through the library of reference materials kept at the nurses’ station next to the phone that US Embassy called on. “Leonor, do you know what happened to the reference book that covered injuries caused by animals?”

Leonor thought for a minute. “Oh yes, Dr. Penso borrowed it last week. He’s preparing a speech and needed to look up some things.”

“Make a note to get it back as soon as possible, and would you please get the copy out of Dr. Coellio’s office. I need it right now.” Dr. Arvelo was just a little annoyed that the information he needed wasn’t available to him. While he waited for the nurse to bring him the book he requested, Dr. Arvelo returned to the phone.

***

“Bravo One, how do you copy?” Was heard as Trent eased the boy into the stretcher and helped him to find a comfortable position on his stomach before tucking the bag of IV fluids under his shoulder so that the weight of his body would keep the drip flowing.

“Havoc, this is Bravo One. Good Copy.” Jason said into the radio, keeping an eye on his youngest brother.

“Bravo One, the hospital is still trying to get some information on the treatment for porcupine quills. Is Bravo Six still stable?” Came Blackburn’s voice.

“That’s affirmative, Havoc,” Jason answered giving Clay a glance and smiling at how he was interacting and entertaining his teammates and the embassy security guards around him. “As long as no one comes near the quills in his shoulder, he’s doing just fine.”

“In that case, the ER doc said to just transport him to the hospital as soon as possible and in the meantime start and IV with normal saline and run it to keep vein open.” Black burn relayed the information from the hospital to the boys in the field.

Clay, hearing the orders concerning his treatment, rolled his eyes and reached his good arm towards his team leader. “Hand me that radio.”

“Now look here, Spenser,” Jason was using his commanding voice, “If the doctor says you need an IV, then you are going to get one.”

“But Boss,” Clay challenged his commanding officer, “I’ve still got to walk out of here. There’s only one stretcher and the kid there needs it a whole lot more than I do. The doctor at the hospital said it himself, they don’t know what to do with me. They are just going overboard on the cautious side.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being cautious with you, Peter Pan.” Sonny said. “Lately the good man upstairs has your number.”

“But there is no reason an IV can’t wait till we get out of here,” Clay persisted, still holding his hand out for the radio.

“Trent will start the IV here and we will just have someone walk along side of you, holding the bag up while we’re walking. It’s not that far back to the embassy. We’ll be just fine.” Jason put his foot down.

Clay rolled his eyes and leaned back into Brock’s chest once again. Brock was laughing and shaking his head, and so was Ray and Sonny who were still at his side. Clay gave a glance to Trent, who had his back to him, and he could tell by the shaking of his shoulders that he was laughing too.

“This is ridiculous,” Clay muttered under his breath.

*** 

Back at the hospital, Leonor arrived back at the nurse’s station with the requested book in her hands and a still mostly asleep Dr. Coellio walking a few steps behind her.

“I thought you were off-shift hours ago, Dr. Coellio,” Dr. Arvelo addressed his associate as he took the book from Leanor.

“I’ve got a touchy one in the CCU. I decided to camp out here for the night. What have you got?” Dr. Coellio asked as he scrubbed his face to wake up a little bit more.

Dr. Arvelo opened the book and looked at the table of contents as Dr. Coellio stepped closer to the desk. “An individual at the embassy tangled with a porcupine while they were looking for a missing boy. Do you by chance know if there is any toxicology involved in porcupine needles?”

Dr. Coellio stood silently stunned, leaning on the other side of the nurses’ desk to finish waking up. “Did you say porcupine? How on earth did they manage to tangle with a porcupine?”

“From what I’ve been able to gather by piecing together information from what I’ve been told over the phone, the individual was part of a search and rescue group and he went into some kind of cave to retrieve a child abuse victim and found the place guarded.” Dr. Arvelo talked jokingly as he turned the pages.

Dr. Coellio just shook his head, still stunned they were dealing with a porcupine patient.

“Well, the good news is,” Dr, Arvelo talked as he read the information he finally found. “There is no toxicity in the needles. It says here they’re made up of the same substance as fingernails. Then he paused and a stunned expression came over his face. “Uh oh!” Dr. Arvelo then rushed back to the phone with Dr. Coellio hot on his heels.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Porcupines are no laughing matter.

Trent gave Sonny a nod that he understood he was to sit with the boy and keep him distracted. He carefully tucked a warm blanket around the boy’s shoulder before gathering what he needed to start the unwanted IV on Clay.

Moving over to his brother’s side, Trent was able to give him a sympathetic but still humored smile as he allowed Clay to talk him into starting the IV in his right arm. Clay figured he already needed to keep it still, why not use it?

Even though Clay was still slightly dehydrated from the drills back in Virginia and not drinking enough on the flight over, Trent was able to start the IV quickly and instead of running the drip at a low to keep vein open rate, Trent set it just a little bit faster.

While the IV was being taped down, Jason and Ray helped Clay sit a little higher. Ray was handed the IV bag, and Jason slipped his arm around Clay’s waist and with Brock’s help, pulled the walking wounded to his feet.

“You’re going to be alright, Spenser,” Jason said as he eyed his youngest, injury-prone brother. Knowing that the situation was undeniably minor made the atmosphere downright jovial.

Everyone there picked up something to carry back to the embassy. Trent had placed as much of the equipment as he could on the stretcher by the boy’s feet. Several men stepped up around the stretcher preparing to lift and carry the young boy who was now lightly sleeping due to the pain meds he had been given. Trent checked his pulse and breathing one more time before being transported out of the gully and to the embassy for transport to the hospital.

Jason reached down and took hold of one corner of the stretcher. Ray stayed at Clay’s side, carrying his bag of IV fluids high enough to keep it flowing. Every time he and Clay made eye contact; they would end up chuckling.

Those watching Clay as he walked could tell that he felt a pinch from time to time as he moved, but all in all, he didn’t look too bad. This was going to be another one of those unbelievable stories to share at the teams’ picnics. Jason could see it now. Half of the SEAL teams saying they heard something about this and the other half totally disbelieving it until Clay takes off his shirt and shows them the scars from the quills.

Jason found himself snickering under his breath and shaking his head as he walked along helping to carry the stretcher containing their original mission.

Jason’s mind turned more fully onto the boy now. He had heard the head of the embassy security team talking to Jatavious and Jaylen while they waited for the boy to be pulled through the manhole cover. The young boys who had led them to their friend’s hiding spot were very worried that by doing so their friend would no longer have a place to go to get away from the beatings that were nearly a daily happening. Jason recognized the look on his face. Like him, he wanted to promise that the boy would be protected and that things would be done to make sure he was never beaten again, but they both had seen the courts put children beaten just as bad right back in the home where they were abused. The only promise they could give was that they would do everything in their power to keep the boy safe, and Jason intended to add his efforts to that promise.

***

“I need to speak to a woman by the name of Lisa Davis.” Dr. Arvelo was speaking into the phone with urgency. “No, there is a woman at that embassy by the name of Lisa Davis.”

“Dr. Arvelo try Ensign Lisa Davis,” Leonor tried. “That was how she introduced herself when she originally called in. She isn’t normal embassy personnel.”

“What is it, Dr. Arvelo?” Dr. Coellio questioned. He knew by the look on Dr. Arvelo’s face that there was something in the open book in his hands that was alarming. “What does it say in the book that has you spooked?”

Dr. Arvelo looked over at his boss, feeling a little ashamed of himself for not seeing the seriousness of the situation earlier. He set the opened book down on the table next to the phone and placed his finger on the words that screamed urgent. ‘Body heat makes the barbs expand and they become even more deeply embedded in the animal’s skin. If an animal is hit in a vital place, it may die.’

“Where did you say the individual got hit with these barb things?” Dr. Coellio got the picture quickly after reading the words that Dr. Arvelo’s fingers were pointing out.

“His right shoulder and upper chest area.” Dr. Arvelo replied, still arguing into the phone.

“And how long of a walk is it to the embassy from where they found the boy?” Dr. Coellio questioned.

“Approximately fifteen minutes.” Dr. Arvelo said, still trying to connect again with Lisa Davis.

Dr. Coellio quickly grabbed the phone from Dr. Arvelo, “This is Dr. Coellio, head of the Emergency Department. I need to speak immediately to Ensign Lisa Davis, as it could be a matter of life or death.”

***

Bravo team and the embassy security team were making a steady pace in their efforts to return to the embassy and the waiting vehicle to take the injured to the hospital. There was no hurry in the least. Both patients were in stable condition and if anything, there was an effort to keep the pace steady to keep from waking the boy with their movement.

“Bravo One, this is Havoc.” The radio on Jason’s waist as well as the one hooked to Ray’s belt sounded off. A security guard stepped up to take Jason’s position at the side of the stretcher as Jason stepped to the side and signaled the men to continue as he pulled the radio off his belt and acknowledged the call.

“Havoc, this is Bravo One. Good copy.” Jason said into the radio.

“The hospital is requesting an update on your porcupine patient.” Blackburn said.

All eyes shot to Clay Spenser who had been walking steadily with Ray at his side. Holding his hand above his head as he carried the IV bag was a strain, so Ray traded hands regularly and Clay felt bad for his inconvenience, but his team leader had made it clear he had no say in the matter.

All eyes focused on Clay were full of concern, but Clay was clearly just annoyed as he rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

The stretcher was carefully set on the ground and the boy’s friends sat down next to it to stay close by. Trent held out his hand for the radio. “Havoc, this is Bravo 4,” Trent said.

“Bravo 4, what is the current condition of Bravo 6?” Blackburn’s voice came through.

“He’s doing well, Havoc, he has good color and is able to walk himself out with no complaints so far.” Trent turned a questioning look at his brother, who remained standing because the act of sitting down and standing up again pulled at the muscles that were currently perforated.

“We have information from the hospital.” Blackburn’s voice came over the radio. “Porcupine barbs expand under the influence of body heat, drawing them deeper into the skin. Are there any vital organs that may be affected in Bravo 6 if this were to happen? I mean are there barbs anywhere other than just muscle areas?”

All the eyes looking over Clay Spenser widened with the news that was given. Clay himself swallowed hard and dropped his eyes to his own chest.

“That’s affirmative, Havoc,” Trent responded after swallowing hard himself. “The projectiles are embedded in the area of his right shoulder and down the upper third of his chest in the area of his upper right lung. Right now, with the current lighting, there are too many to count.”

Trent could hear the blowing out of a deep breath over the radio and could feel the tension mounting.

“Do you have any chemical ice packs with you?” Came Blackburn’s response.

“Not in this kit,” Trent replied.

“We will have ice available as soon as you reach the embassy,” Blackburn reported. “How long before you make it back, Bravo 4?”

“Approximately five to ten minutes.” Jason responded, taking the radio back from Trent.

“You will be another thirty minutes to the hospital once you reach the embassy.” Blackburn explained.

The team looked at each other. This whole ‘hit by a porcupine’ situation was no longer funny.

“Alright Bravo,” Blackburn took another short pause before relaying the directions from the hospital, “Monitor Bravo 6’s breathing carefully from here on out. As soon as you get back, we are getting ice to pack around the area of the foreign objects but try not to touch them with the ice. You’re trying to lower the body heat in that area, try not to get him so cold that he starts shivering. That can foreseeably cause the barbs to go deeper as well. Put him on oxygen, ten liters per minute. We need to get him to the hospital as fast as safely possible. Call in if there are any changes, they don’t care how slight they are.”

Trent repeated the directions of the physician and clipped the radio to his belt. Jason stepped up to Clay’s side and took hold of his upper left arm with one and reached around to take a hold of his belt on the left with his other hand. Brock stepped up and took the IV bag from Ray and six men including Trent, Ray and Sonny pulled the stretcher containing their other patient off the ground and they started out once again. There was a new haste to their movements, but they still took care to keep the pace even for their sleeping patient.

The remaining distance to the embassy was made in just under five minutes. They had an ambulance ready and waiting for the group, and when they saw the team coming, pulled the gurney out of the back of the ambulance and were surprised when the stretcher was carried past it and placed on the bench in the back of the ambulance.

Lisa stood there with bags of ice and carried the bags as far as the ambulance gurney and waited as Clay was quickly laid down and rolled up on his left side just enough to place one bag of ice behind his shoulder before the other one was placed on the left side of his chest but still away from the protruding barbs. Without waiting for anything else, the gurney was lifted into the back of the ambulance and before Trent had the oxygen mask on his teammate’s face, an embassy security guard climbed in to supervise the boy’s transfer and the doors were shut and the ready to go slaps were applied to both sides of the ambulance.

Four SEALS stood watching the ambulance drive away. Their last glimpses through the back windows were of Trent holding a stethoscope to the chest of their brother as the ambulance pulled away as it proceeded down the road and out of sight.

***

Trent was listening intently to every sound that was coming back through the stethoscope in his ears. After moving the bell several times to different locations on Clay’s chest, he asked, “Can you take a deep breath for me?”

“I’d rather not.” Clay let out the small breath he was holding.

“Does it hurt to breathe?” Trent continued.

“A little,” Clay nervously admitted. “How do things sound?”

“Things are a little quiet on the right, but it could be because you’re in pain. I don’t dare get too close to the pointy things poking into your chest. Nothing too alarming. Yet.”

Clay let out another sigh and was sure he felt the barbs shifting in his chest, holding still seemed like the right thing to do but how do you not breathe?

In the light that was available in the back of the ambulance, Trent was able to get a much better look at the spikes in his brother’s shoulder. The t-shirt was no protection at all from the spikes from entering his shoulder and chest area. Trent counted thirty spikes before he needed to look away for a second and then lost his place. The main concern was the dimpling around each spike. There was obviously a pull inward, and Trent just hoped and prayed that the progression was slow, and that the ice would help.

“Just hang in there; we’ll get you to the hospital as soon as we can.” Trent reassured Clay.

Little did Trent know; the hospital was preparing a surgical unit and the doctors were prepping to have Clay out in less than sixty seconds after he arrived.

“I guess you never dealt with anything like this back in Liberia.” Trent made small talk trying to help his brother relax.

“No, nothing like this.” Clay shook his head. “Those things are so small you never had to worry about getting the quills more than knee high. Those were the largest ones I have ever seen and trust me to be on all fours when I met up with one here on a mission.”

Then Clay tried to take the attention off himself. “How’s the kid?”

Trent took a minute to check the boy’s pulse and tucked the blanket in around him a little snugger.

“The pain meds the doctor ordered have really knocked him out.” Trent took a minute to double check his breathing before turning back to Clay and talking softly, his words meant for Clay’s ears only. “He’s pretty beat up. That fucker really did a number on him. Nothing life threatening but he’s covered with welts and bruises, there’s at least a dozen lacerations that will likely need a stitch or two. I think he was totally exhausted and hasn’t slept well in some time. Once, we took care of his pain, he was able to catch up on his sleep.”

“He had a lot of potato chips and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in that hideout of his. That must have been what attracted the porcupines. He also had a bunch of plant material gathered and piled under his sleeping bag. It’s probably the same plants they eat in the wild.” Clay talked as he watched the boy sleeping peacefully on the bench next to him. “Other than setting up a situation where the place was inviting to all the animal friends around, the kid had himself a nice little shelter there.”

Clay tried not to complain as they rode along but Trent could tell he was uncomfortable. The ice was starting to make him shiver so Trent removed the bag that was on his chest. And continued to watch his brother’s breathing very carefully. He managed to listen to his chest with the stethoscope at least three times in the first ten minutes of the ride.

“You’re still sounding good, I don’t hear any changes in the breath sounds,” Trent reported, and Clay gave a sigh of relief. He was just to chalk this all up to the over paranoid doctor.

It wasn’t more than just a few minutes later that the small breaths Clay had been taking weren’t enough and he gave in and took a slightly deeper breath. He was sensing the shifting of the quills before but with the deeper breath, it was undeniable, and he started to panic.

“Trent, you’ve got to pull these things out of me.” Clay tried to sit up. “Just pull them out now!”

“Clay, calm down.” Trent took Clay by the shoulders and bumping two or more of the barbs in his upper arm in the process as he pushed Clay back against the gurney. “Think about what you are asking me to do. If I pull those things out and they’ve left a hole in the plural wall, you could get a pneumothorax or worse. Clay, please, just hang in there with me, we’re almost there.”

***

Back at the hospital, Dr. Coellio and Dr. Arvelo had taken turns changing into surgical scrubs and Dr. Coellio was now standing at the nurses’ station holding the phone to his ear. He was talking to a local veterinarian on the proper way to pull out porcupine quills.

“Use a pair of broad-tipped pliers, nothing small like tweezers or hemostats, and get a good grip on the quill before you pull, but be careful, except for a solid tip, the things are hollow. You don’t want to smash it or break it off, and then you’ll have to go in and cut it out. Best to make sure you’re pulling straight back and keep the tension steady while you pull.” The veterinarian explained.

Dr. Coellio was listening intently and thinking about what was being said as he contemplated treating his intriguing patient. “We have some information that body heat causes them to swell and pull deeper into the skin. Is that true and how fast will that happen?”

“Yeah, they’ll migrate deeper over time. How fast depends a lot on where they are and how deep they are to begin with. Can cause a heap of trouble if they get into a major organ. Where about did this person get hit with them?” Asked the vet.

“His shoulder and upper chest, in the area of the lungs.” Dr. Coellio explained.

“Yes, you got a problem there. Pull them out as quickly as you can. After that, all you have is a puncture wound, but I don’t think I need to tell you what to do for that now do I?” The vet joked.

“No, I can deal with a puncture wound, and I think I can deal with a puncture to the chest cavity. So, you’re telling me to pull back straight against the quill but be careful not to break it off. Is there anything else I should know?” Dr. Coellio asked.

“Those quills have been everywhere and into every dirty thing the porcupine has, there is a real danger of infection. You’ll have to watch for that. I’d consider putting your patient on a prophylactic round of antibiotics if I were you. How did the guy get hit in the chest?” The vent questioned, still perplexed by the call he is currently receiving.

“Seems he was crawling through a tunnel in search of a lost boy and came upon a porcupine when he reached the end of the tunnel.” Dr. Coellio explained.

“That explains a few things. Best let you go because it sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you. Just make sure you get them all. A single Cape Porcupine has about fifty thousand quills on its body. They can be as big as 12 inches and as short as inch. The bigger ones towards the tail and the smaller ones towards the face. Just take your time and make sure you get them all. If you have any more question, feel free to call me back. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you’d call me back when you’re done and let me know how things went.” The vet explained, curious about what the outcome will be.

Dr. Coellio agreed to give him a call after the patient was treated and stepped around the nurses’ station where Dr. Arvelo and Dr. Morgado, the anesthesiologist, were talking about all the best way to put the patient out quickly.

***

In the ambulance, Clay’s panic filled eyes were locked on Trent’s. He knew what Trent was saying was true. Clay knew that if the roles were reversed, he would be just as insistent that his brother remain as calm as possible. Still, knowing he should remain calm as possible and doing it with an, yet uncounted number of quills working their way closer to his lungs, was another story all together.

Seeing the Clay’s eyes were locked on his, Trent continued to talk calmly and encourage Clay to slow his breathing into sniper breathing. “We’re just about there,” Trent continued to talk. “The doctors are ready for you and they’ll take care of this as quickly as possible.”

“These doctors didn’t know what to do in the field,” Clay’s panic was still present as he reached up and took a hold of Trent’s arm with his left hand and fought not to take another deep breath.

Trent reached up and placed his hand over the one Clay was holding his arm with and gave a squeeze. “You know as well as I do that these doctors have spent the time, we’re transporting to find out what to do. They’re ready for you, Clay.”

“I can see the lights of the hospital now.” The driver called back over his shoulder as he continued to drive. He was aware of the urgency here.

For the remainder of the ride in, Trent held Clay’s hand and kept his attention locked on him as he continued to talk calmingly and coach him to sniper breathing. Trent knew without a doubt that was much more important than listening to his lungs one more time.

When they arrived, Clay was quickly lifted down from the back of the ambulance. Dr. Coellio, Dr. Arvelo and Dr. Morgado were waiting for him.

“How are you feeling, young man?” Dr. Coellio asked as Dr. Arvelo placed the bell of his stethoscope against Clay’s chest wall.

“When did you eat last?” Dr. Morgado had other issues to deal with and they did it as the gurney was moved into a treatment room.

“Where’s x-ray?” Dr. Arvelo yelled as Clay was transferred from the gurney over to the treatment table.

“We’re not going to worry about that yet, let’s just get these things out of him before they go any deeper and then we’ll get x-ray.” Dr. Coellio explained.

The boy in the back of the ambulance was greeted by his own contingent; a doctor from Pediatrics that specialized in child abuse cases and an Army MP was there to guard the boy from his father. Trent gave a quick report and then moved to join his brother. When he opened the door to the treatment room, he saw Dr. Morgado setting up a piggyback to Clay’s IV that he knew was an anesthetic and then injected a pre-drawn syringe into the next IV port.

The nurse had already undone Clay’s belt and pants and was pulling them off from under a warmed blanket that was draped over the lower part of Clay’s body. Trent already knew that his t-shirt would be cut away after they removed at least most of the quills that had penetrated through it. Trent backed out of the treatment room and let the staff there continue to work on his brother and teammate. Last thing he needed was to dirty the surgical field more.

***

Clay felt the effects of the drugs being introduced through his veins and felt even more panicked. “Just pull, don’t cut…them…out.” He mumbled as he lost his last hold on consciousness.

The last thing he remembered was a hand being placed on the back of his neck, lifting to establish a proper airway and then a mask was being placed over his mouth and nose. The air was cool and the words he would never remember were comforting and then he was out.

“Alright,” Dr. Coellio stepped up as soon as he had gloves on, “I was told to take a firm hold and pull straight back. Be careful not to crush or break off the quills.”

As Dr. Coellio stood with pliers in his hand, trying to choose which projectile to remove first, Dr. Arvelo was across the table from him pouring the orange disinfectant Betadine over and around the quills, saturating Clay’s t-shirt. With a nod from Dr. Morgado, Dr. Coellio took hold of his first quill and with great anticipation pulled fast and hard.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pokey aftermath.

The fingers running through his hair felt seductive and exciting. Clay was sure the lady at his side was trying to wake him up, but he had just as clearly been in a deep sleep and it was going to take a minute. Where was he and who was it that was running their fingers through his hair? Rebecca, it must be Rebecca. He felt warm all over and there was a bright light penetrating through his closed eyelids. Did he finally find time when both were off so he could take her to the beach?

Then he felt the hands going across his chest. No, it must be Stella. Better make sure who it is before I say anything. Clay worked to wake up a little more before he tried to open his eyes. As he did so, he was aware of someone running their hands across his chest and someone running their fingers through his hair.

‘Rebecca and Stella?’ Clay thought, then questioned his conclusion. ‘When did those two meet each other?’

There was the sensation of something growing tighter on his upper left arm, his head was gently turned to the side, “Here’s another one,” Clay heard a completely male voice announce.

‘Definitely not Rebecca or Stella.’ Clay came to that conclusion.

There was a slight poke at the side of his head and Clay winced.

“Mr. Spenser, are you back with us? The voice was asking him. Clay also realized that the hands applying tape to his chest were covered with rubber gloves.

“Getting there,” Clay slurred out slowly as he allowed his head to be moved as it needed to be. As his head was moved, he felt the pull of the nasal cannula under his nose. Clay responded by taking a deep breath and was relieved not to feel pain in his chest.

“Ouch,” Dr. Arvelo groaned, “I got one of those things in my hand.”

“It looks like there’s a whole bunch of those spines in his hair. I think we should use a comb to try and get the rest of these out of his hair.” The voice above his head stated. “Do you need some help pulling that thing out of your hand?”

“No, I’ve just helped pull over a hundred of these things out of him. I think I can handle it,” Dr. Arvelo responded as Clay worked to get his eyes open.

“Dr. Arvelo, don’t do that.” Clay heard Dr. Coellio’s voice from the other side of the room. This was followed by the sensation of someone moving around his bed. “You have to make sure you pull them straight or you can break them off.”

“Ouch! That smarts. I think it’s a good thing we put him out with all the one’s he had in him.” Dr. Arvelo responded.

Clay then felt the cold bell of a stethoscope placed next to his bare chest, “Can you take a deep breath for me, Mr. Spenser?” Dr. Coellio requested and Clay complied. “Are you in any pain?”

Clay moistened his lips with his tongue as he tried to assess his body. He felt a comb being run through his hair and could hear the soft sounds of several things dropping into the disposable cover under his head.

“Mr. Spenser, are you in any pain?” Dr. Coellio repeated his question.

“Um, no, I don’t think so.” Clay took another deep breath and remembered the porcupine quills that had been embedded into his chest. He fought harder to get his eyes opened and even before he was able to focus his vision, he was directing his gaze at his chest and right shoulder. When his eyes came into focus, he saw a six-inch piece of clear plastic taped to his chest on three sides, the treatment for a sucking chest wound.

“How bad?” Clay managed to get out as he turned his head back to Dr. Coellio.

Dr. Coellio placed his hand on the bed near Clay’s head and leaned over so that the two of them were face to face. “X-ray’s show a slight pneumothorax. It’s nothing to be alarmed about at this point but we’ll be keeping an eye on it for the next few hours.”

Clay moved his right arm to get a better look at himself. He was covered in orange disinfectant and the drip patterns told the story of it just being poured over him. “How many of those things got into my lung?”

“Well, we’re pretty sure none of them made it as far as the lung, but we think at least four, possibly more, of the quills pierced the plural lining around the lungs.” Dr. Coellio responded.

The cover under his head was folded up around his face and Clay was able to lift his own head enough for it to be pulled out from under him. He turned to the side and watched as the doctor who was standing above his head formed a funnel with the paper and directed several spines about an inch in length into a metal basin on the table next to him.

“Let’s get him an observation room and I want the chest x-ray repeated in four hours,” Dr. Coellio instructed.

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse responded and then left the room.

Clay felt the vibrations of the bed beneath him as the head rose slightly; he then turned his still groggy attention back to Dr. Coellio. “There’s a bunch of burly men waiting to hear how you came out. I think I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Doctors Arvelo and Morgado here, and go fill them in. Do you think you’ll be up to some visitors in a few minutes?”

Clay gave him a lop-sided grin along with an affirmative nod of his head before turning back to the chore of waking up.

As Dr. Coellio moved toward the door, Dr. Arvelo got his attention. “What do you want to do with all these porcupine quills?”

“To start with, let’s run some of them through some culture medium and see what grown, especially those bigger ones that we pulled out of his chest. I’d like a heads-up as to what antibiotics to start if any of those punctures wounds get infected,” Dr. Coellio responded.

“That’s a good idea,” Dr. Arvelo tilted his head and felt slightly ashamed that he hadn’t thought of it first.

“When you’re done with them, I’d like to have them,” Clay spoke up and the three doctors in the room each gave him a strange look.

“If you want them, Mr. Spenser, you can have them, but I don’t give warranties. Once I take them out, I don’t want to see them embedded in you or anyone else again, got it?” Dr. Coellio explained.

“Don’t worry, doc. I’ll be careful with them.” Clay responded.

“They would be an awesome souvenir and story to share,” Dr. Arvelo giggled as he applied a Band-Aid to his hand. “Just make sure to make them safe to handle so they don’t get stuck in somebody else’s skin.”

Clay gave the doctor a groggy stare and it was clear he hadn’t previously thought of what was being suggested.

Clay drifted off the sleep again, only to be awakened when he was moved over to another gurney to be moved to the observation room he was going to be in at least for the rest of the night.

Clay was helped into a pair of hospital-issued pajama bottoms, but his chest was left bare so that they could watch the puncture wounds that weren’t bandaged and keep an eye on his bandaging. He was just starting to drift off to the residual effects of the anesthesia combined with jetlag and all his other injuries, when the door opened and in walked his five teammates.

They all quickly noticed Clay’s chest, covered in orange disinfectant, and Trent was quick to pick up on the bandage that was only taped down on three sides, but none of them could refute that Clay looked good. His color was good, except for his chest, and he was smiling at them.

“How’s our human pin cushion doing?” Ray asked with a smile, thinking he had beat Sonny to the punchline.

“Well punctuated, but now unpinned,” Clay answered. “I think I’m glad they knocked me out before they pulled all of the quills out.”

“Hate to break it to you, Goldilocks, but the lady chose one of her other suitors,” Sonny managed to keep from being outdone.

Clay laughed hard enough it took a few seconds to respond. “That’s alright. Once I got to know her a little, I realized she was a little too prickly for my liking.”

“Sounds to me like you get the point,” Brock added to the chatter, and everyone had a good laugh.

“How did the kid come out?” Clay asked, when he was finally able to stop laughing.

“A pediatrician with expertise in child abuse situations and an Army MP were waiting for him when he got here. Once I gave my report on what happened during transport, they took over and whisked him off to a treatment room, leaving me behind. I can’t tell you much more than that right now.” Trent explained.

“Well, I can tell you that his parents aren’t going to be in to see him anytime soon.” Jason picked up the conversation. “I watched the Ambassador’s own security personnel cuff them and read them their rights before they were hauled off to a holding room. That Ambassador was a real piece of work. He kept screaming that he had a right to discipline his kid as he saw fit. It took four security guards to get him out of the room and down the hall.”

“I hope that means he’ll never have to go back to that home,” Clay exclaimed as he let out a deep sigh and moved his slightly stiff right shoulder.

“We can hope,” Jason betrayed his lack of faith in the system.

The team were noticing how tired Clay was and were feeling some of the same fatigue themselves, so they started to say their goody-byes. That’s when a nurse came in with a tall slender specimen jar.

“Dr. Arvelo said you wanted these for a souvenir,” the nurse said, and everyone knew instantly what was in the jar.

“Hey Poster Boy, is it okay if I take one out and look at it real close?” Sonny asked as he reached for the jar before Clay was able to answer.

“Just be careful you don’t…” Clay started.

“AARGGHH!” Sonny groaned. “OWW, AHH, OOH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH. LITTLE FUCKER!” Sonny danced around in circles shaking his hand.

“Sonny, you dumbass.” Jason stated, shaking his head.

“I’ll go get a nurse,” Ray offered, shaking his head and headed out the door.

Soon Sonny felt two hands clamp on his arm holding his hand still and felt ashamed of his behavior as soon as he realized they were Clay’s hands.

“Sonny, Clay didn’t carry on a tenth as bad as you are, and he had over a hundred of those things in him.” Trent gave words to Sonny’s embarrassment.

“Yeah, but he had ‘em in his shoulder. You feel it more in your hand,” Sonny whined defensively.

Just then the door to the room opened once again and Dr. Coellio walked in ahead of Ray.

“Mr. Spenser, you promised to be careful with those things if we let you have them. I’ve already taken them out once.” Dr. Coellio scolded.

“You’re forgetting the one you pulled out of Dr. Arvelo’s hand,” Clay reminded the good doctor. “And besides, I was being careful, Sonny here’s the one who got careless.”

By this time, Clay had been able to get a good look at the situation. The quill was embedded in the web of skin between Sonny’s thumb and forefinger, and either originally or due to all the shaking and dancing he did, it was all the way through.

Without discussion, Clay released Sonny’s arm with one of his hands and pulled the bandage scissors from a tray that was next to his bed. Using the scissors that were designed to cut through many things, Clay clipped the barbed tip off the quill.

“YEOWWW!” Sonny yelled and he was trying to keep the doctor from looking at his hand, and Clay gave a swift pull to pull it out. 

“Tinkerbell, you’re supposed to let the doctor take things like that out,” Sonny screamed just a little too loudly for being in a hospital at eleven thirty at night. “That way he could numb it good before he pulled it out.”

While Sonny was yelling at Clay, Dr. Coellio managed to get a hold of his hand and pull it where he could get a good look at the damage. “Well, no harm done. We wouldn’t have numbed it for a single barb anyway. We’d have to stick you with a needle so we would just get it over with the same way Mr. Spenser did.”

“I would recommend that you scrub the area good with some disinfectant soap, though, and then I’ll have the nurse put some antibiotic salve on it and bandage it for you. We’ve just finished some gram stain from the ones we took out of Mr. Spenser and believe me, these things were far from sterile.” Cr. Coellio started to guide Sonny to where he could wash up like he was being instructed to do but before he left the room, he turned back to the group gathered in the room. “Mr. Sawyer, would you please get your teammate back in bed? Mr. Spenser, I’m going to have the nurses start you on some IV antibiotics to get a jump on all the nasty little things that were carried on those barbs. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s send those barb things through the autoclave before someone else gets poked with them.”

Trent did as he was told with a smile on his face as he pulled the covers up to just below the bandage on Clay’s chest.

“Well, Clay Boy, I think we better go back to the embassy before we wake up the whole hospital.” Jason gave his youngest teammate a slap on his leg as he ushered the rest of his men out. “You take care of yourself and we will see you tomorrow morning to get you out of here.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

Sonny stayed behind to see to it that Clay was situated and had a fresh pitcher of water. When he left, the nurse was coming in with the antibiotic to piggyback into Clay’s IV and as she hung the bag of fluid next to the existing IV a tired Clay gave a wave at his brother. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

“That doesn’t rule out anything, Young Jedi,” Sonny smirked and exited out the door, so he wasn’t left at the hospital.

***

Early next morning, as Trent and Jason came close to Clay’s room, Dr. Coellio stepped out into the hall and took a moment to write on the patient chart in his hands.

“Are you here to see Mr. Spenser?” Dr. Coellio asked as they came closer.

Trent picked up the look on Dr. Coellio’s face quickly, “Is something wrong with Clay?”

Dr. Coellio shook his head; this was one more example why he should never take up poker. “Mr. Spenser spiked a temp early this morning. Nothing too serious, just 102 but under the circumstances, we jumped on things and have been watching him close. We have already started him on antibiotics based on the gram stains from those porcupine quills he was impaled with.” Dr. Coellio paused and looked at the report in the file again. Shaking his head, he looked back at the team. “Those things were far from sterile. Anyway, I don’t think it’s anything real serious, he’s responding well to the treatment. His temperature broke about half an hour ago and he’s sleeping comfortably right now. I think it’s in his best interest to let him continue. I’m just about to have the nurses hold his breakfast until he wakes.”

Trent nodded his head in agreement with the good doctor. “Can I just look in on him? I promise I won’t wake him?”

Dr. Coellio agreed and Trent stepped up to the door and opened it. There he stood in the doorway watching his brother breathe, he was still bare from the waist up, but the blankets had been pulled up a little farther on his body than they had been the night before. He had good color, he looked calm, and on the over the bed table was a specimen bottle marked with tape to show that its contents had been sterilized. Trent smiled and pulled the door shut once again and looked at Dr. Coellio and Jason with a smile.

“Um, about the infection,” Jason got Dr. Coellio’s attention. “Sonny got one of those in his hand, should we be worried about that? I only ask because we haven’t taken the bandage off yet and do we need to take a good look at it before our 20-plus hour flight home.”

“Dr. Arvelo got stuck with one of those things too. His hand is starting to show some signs of infection. We’ve treated it with an antibiotic ointment for now. As far as Sonny goes, I’d recommend uncovering it, wash it again, apply more antibiotic ointment and if it still shows signs of infection, take him in when you reach home.” Dr. Coellio explained.

Trent and Jason returned to the embassy and reported on the newest development with Clay. It was decided to head back at lunch to pick up their wayward teammate. As they entered, they found Clay sitting on the side of the bed, looking out the window and rotating his right shoulder and arm. Trent was quick to notice that he had full and easy range of motion and seemed a little restless.

“How are you feeling?” Trent asked.

“Feeling good,” Clay answered then leaned back in the bed and threw his feet up over onto the other side of the bed before he sat up again, facing the team.

“Well, if that move is any representation of your recovery, you should be out of here real soon.” Ray commented.

“The docs said I can go home as long as I’m under Trent’s supervision,” Clay was quick to report. “He wants me to have two more doses of the IV antibiotic on the plane and then he’ll change it to some pills. He says to check with the base doctor, but he’s guessing that I’ll need to take a week off because of the pneumothorax, but then I’ll be right back in the field with you guys.” Clay was happy and his usual cocky self. He was still bare from the waist up and had a bandage on his upper chest but there was evidence that he had a shower since the orange disinfectant on his skin was several shades lighter than it had been when they had seen him last.

“That’s good news,” Jason said.

It was Sonny who noticed the special tape on the quills and Clay was quick to pull the specimen bottle away and out of Sonny’s reach. “No Sonny, you can’t play with my porcupine quills. They are dangerous to people like you.”

Everyone was laughing at Sonny’s pout when there was a knock at the door.

Everyone looked up to see a man dressed in an army uniform standing in the doorway. “Are you the team that rescued Ryan?”

“Oh yes, how is he doing?” Clay was quick to respond.

“Ryan is going to be fine. His injuries, though extensive, are a little more than bruises and a few cuts that he should heal from quickly. Right now, I just hope he will heal emotionally just as easily.” The man stated. “I can’t believe we were so blind to what the ambassador had done to his son. I really wanted to tell you thank you for all that you’ve done, and Ryan will never see his dad again.”

“We were just doing our job.” Jason stated and stepped forward with an extended hand. As the two men shook hands, Jason added, “I’m just glad to hear that he won’t be going back to that home.”

“No, he most definitely won’t be going back to the ambassador or his mom. If I have my way, they will never see him again,” he confirmed and after shaking hands with all the men and thanking them personally, he turned and left, and all of Bravo felt better.

***

Several days later, Clay was standing in front of Jameelah, RJ, Mikey and Emma telling them about porcupines as a large test tube with a rubber stopper in the top of it was being passed between them. One of the largest of the quills was safely inside where the kids could look at it carefully without risk of getting poked by it.

“Uncle Clay, tell us about the person you rescued when you got poked by the porcupine.” Jameelah asked.

“I can’t do that, Jammie.” Clay pulled the excited young girl to him. “I have to keep the person’s identity and information of the mission confidential. All I can tell you is that everyone involved is going to be fine.”

While he was explaining and showing them the quill, the rest of the guys were sitting around Ray’s backyard keeping a close eye that no one else was going to become a pincushion today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for hanging with me all day while I try to get all the chapters posted throughout the work day!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!


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